“The Power of Questions”
“The Power of Questions”
By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Founder & Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group ™
As a business coach and a multi-disciplinary consulting professional, I totally believe that questions have awesome power. Since 1982 when I started my professional consulting practices, I have used the power of questions. Questions have the potential to be one of the most effective communication tools available.
One of my most effective and powerful techniques I use in my consulting and coaching practices is asking many questions. I have been impacted very strongly by Socrates and his Socratic method of teaching, which is the oldest and, in my opinion, still the most powerful teaching tactic for fostering critical and strategic thinking.
Using the Socratic method (in a more modern version) in business coaching, I do not give information directly but instead ask a series of questions, which results in desired knowledge by answering the questions or a deeper awareness of the limits of knowledge. As a business coach I can probe the nature of the client’s question, problem, or issue and inquire whether or not we have relevant data and information needed. We can consider alternate interpretations, question assumptions, look at consequences of decisions, etc. As a coach using the Socratic method, I lead my client(s) to think in a disciplined, intellectually responsible manner and aid them by posing facilitating questions.
Why is the ability to ask skillful questions so powerful in business? Questions are the tools we use to dig up information, learn what others are thinking, doing, believing and as a way to compare reality and perceptions. If we do not ask questions, we are exposing ourselves to miscommunications, poor communications, misinterpretations, and we fall victim to assuming we know something (or worse, everything) there is to know about someone of some subject.
What can you do to capture the power of questions? Here are just a few thoughts.
+ Set a goal to ask several questions in all your interactions to improve your performance, build stronger relationships and reduce misunderstanding.
+ Engage in some silent personal reflection to find insightful questions and responses.
+ Clarify and confirm what you understand to be true and use questions to ensure there is a common understanding of what is discussed or what action will be taken.
+ Ask thoughtful questions of each person to demonstrate your respect for them and their ideas.
+ Ask for the information you need.
If you are interested in learning more about the power of questions and how you can become a skillful questioner to realize the power of questions, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at www.businesscoach4u.com or through his email at jgecoach@aol.com
The Power of Questions - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
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“The Power of Questions”
By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Founder & Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group ™
As a business coach and a multi-disciplinary consulting professional, I totally believe that questions have awesome power. Since 1982 when I started my professional consulting practices, I have used the power of questions. Questions have the potential to be one of the most effective communication tools available.
One of my most effective and powerful techniques I use in my consulting and coaching practices is asking many questions. I have been impacted very strongly by Socrates and his Socratic method of teaching, which is the oldest and, in my opinion, still the most powerful teaching tactic for fostering critical and strategic thinking.
Using the Socratic method (in a more modern version) in business coaching, I do not give information directly but instead ask a series of questions, which results in desired knowledge by answering the questions or a deeper awareness of the limits of knowledge. As a business coach I can probe the nature of the client’s question, problem, or issue and inquire whether or not we have relevant data and information needed. We can consider alternate interpretations, question assumptions, look at consequences of decisions, etc. As a coach using the Socratic method, I lead my client(s) to think in a disciplined, intellectually responsible manner and aid them by posing facilitating questions.
Why is the ability to ask skillful questions so powerful in business? Questions are the tools we use to dig up information, learn what others are thinking, doing, believing and as a way to compare reality and perceptions. If we do not ask questions, we are exposing ourselves to miscommunications, poor communications, misinterpretations, and we fall victim to assuming we know something (or worse, everything) there is to know about someone of some subject.
What can you do to capture the power of questions? Here are just a few thoughts.
+ Set a goal to ask several questions in all your interactions to improve your performance, build stronger relationships and reduce misunderstanding.
+ Engage in some silent personal reflection to find insightful questions and responses.
+ Clarify and confirm what you understand to be true and use questions to ensure there is a common understanding of what is discussed or what action will be taken.
+ Ask thoughtful questions of each person to demonstrate your respect for them and their ideas.
+ Ask for the information you need.
If you are interested in learning more about the power of questions and how you can become a skillful questioner to realize the power of questions, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at www.businesscoach4u.com or through his email at jgecoach@aol.com
The Power of Questions - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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